The Future Landscapes Project promotes an innovative training methodology in which producers, technical teams, and local leaders co-design the content, which they then replicate in their communities, strengthening local capacities based on the productive and cultural realities of the Gran Chaco.
As part of the Future Landscapes Project, the Gran Chaco Foundation and The Nature Conservancy launched a Train-the-Trainer Program that employs a participatory and intercultural methodology to strengthen local capacities around strategic value chains. Unlike traditional training models, the programs were not designed centrally but rather developed in collaboration with those who live and work in these territories.
During the process, technical specialists, extension agents, community leaders, and producers analyzed the specific needs of each value chain, identified the main production challenges, and collaboratively agreed on the content that would later be replicated in the communities by the local trainers themselves.
The result is an approach that strengthens the autonomy of these regions and builds lasting capacity, ensuring the long-term sustainability of local ecosystems.
In this context, Agustín Noriega, territory director of the Gran Chaco Foundation, explained that “to work on nature-based solutions, we must start with the communities. They are the ones who possess the knowledge and experience regarding sustainable production practices integrated into the forest, and it is that knowledge that allows us to develop truly regenerative solutions,” said Agustín Noriega, territory director of the Gran Chaco Foundation.
“But if we want to seriously discuss community-based solutions, it is essential to incorporate a gender perspective,” Noriega added. “Women and men fulfill distinct roles in production systems and land management, and it is women who, in many cases, lead productive innovations, drive local solutions, and sustain community organization in the face of climate crises. That is why solutions based on nature, communities, and a gender perspective are all part of the same strategy.”
The development of the proposed “train-the-trainer” program included 29 virtual meetings, which brought together teams from Salta, Formosa, and Chaco to collectively design the training programs.
An approach rooted in the Chaco’s productive reality
One of the distinctive features of Argentina’s experience within the Future Landscapes Project is the decision to focus on value chains deeply rooted in the economic, social, and cultural identity of the Gran Chaco.
While many rural development programs focus their efforts on larger-scale traditional production, this initiative takes a broad view of the region’s productive diversity, integrating four strategic value chains: carob, livestock, beekeeping, and livestock.
The inclusion of carob and handicrafts is one of the project’s key distinguishing features. Both activities represent much more than a source of income: they are part of the cultural heritage of indigenous peoples and rural communities, contribute to the conservation of native woodlands, and strengthen production systems adapted to the Chaco’s environmental conditions.
In this way, the proposal recognizes that the transition toward regenerative models also involves strengthening those local economies historically built on knowledge of the territory and the sustainable use of natural resources.
Fron technical knowledge to shared knowledge
Each sector developed a specific co-design process, but always based on an initial assessment and subsequent participatory farm planning. In livestock farming, priority was given to topics related to health management, feeding, genetics, infrastructure, and the planning of regenerative production systems.
In beekeeping, a training program was developed that combines technical knowledge with local expertise on hive management, hive products, and apiary planning, adapted to the conditions of rural and Indigenous communities.
For the carob sector, the training incorporated tools for mapping carob groves, conservation and regeneration of the carob forest, best practices for harvesting and value addition, while also strengthening food sovereignty and the cultural appreciation of the fruit.
In the area of handicrafts, the work focused on addressing one of the main challenges facing women artisans in the Gran Chaco today: the impact of climate change on the availability of raw materials. The programs include strategies for the sustainable management of palm and chaguar, the production of natural dyes, productive organization, digital tools, and adaptive business plans.
Themes that cut across all chains
Beyond the specific characteristics of each productive activity, all plans share a common vision of development. The proposal integrates, across the board, the Rural Regeneration with Adaptation (R2A) approach, a gender perspective, the use of information and communication technologies (ICT), and an intercultural approach based on dialogue between ancestral knowledge and contemporary technical expertise.
ICTs are incorporated as tools to improve production management, marketing, access to information, and community organization. The gender perspective seeks to strengthen the active participation of women and youth in productive processes, while the intercultural approach recognizes the value of the knowledge historically built up by indigenous and rural communities.
The Train-the-Trainer Program is a strategy to build local capacity, strengthen community leadership, and consolidate the transition toward regenerative production systems that reflect territorial identity. The methodology developed demonstrates that the most sustainable transformations are those that originate within the communities themselves and are built collectively.
About the project
This project in Argentina is implemented by The Nature Conservancy in collaboration with its implementing partners, the Gran Chaco Foundation and the ProYungas Foundation, and is supported by the International Climate Initiative (IKI). The IKI is an important part of the German Government’s international climate finance commitment. Since 2022, the IKI has been administered by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK) in close collaboration with the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection (BMUV) and the Federal Foreign Office (AA).